


children of war

by Dumbdays



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: but also please leave me some tips id like to improve, let these kids be kids, this is my first work please be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26195662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dumbdays/pseuds/Dumbdays
Summary: A council member does not quite find who he was expecting when meeting the deligates of this important meeting.My first work please leave me some tips!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	children of war

The council man was running late. He was running on time till he discovered that his stable hand had fallen ill, and instead of taking his ostrich horse to the palace, he would be forced to take a far slower rickshaw. Which in turn gave him all the time necessary to stress about his oncoming meeting. Todays discussion was about factory holdings of fire nation citizens in earth kingdom territory. They had been preparing for weeks and delegations of most nations had gathered at the palace today. Of all days to be late, why this one. 

As they finally pulled up to the palace, the council man forewent any semblance of dignity and grace, by practically throwing himself out of the carriage and up the stairs towards the meeting room. If he was fast enough, he might just make it before the fire lord himself arrived. 

Just before he crashed into the large gilded doors of the meeting room he stopped, straightened out his robe, reshuffled his papers into their correct order and gathered himself before he went to push them open with as much dignity as he could manage.

Only to promptly have to duck as a mooncake almost hit him right in the face. Once he felt the danger had passed he straightened himself and took in the scene in the hall. 

One short child with blue arrow tattoos was sitting on top of one of the mantelpieces situated on the far side of the room. He was deflecting various pastries that were being launched at him by a slightly older teenager dressed in blue. 

In the middle of the room were two girls, one dressed in blue and one dressed in earth kingdom tones. Both were resting their feet on the conference table sipping drinks and watching the chaos on the far side of the room unfold, while occasionally shouting encouragements at either party.

The councilman could only conclude that he was in the wrong room, this one obviously meant for some kind of school for the children of the ambassadors of each delegation sent in the meeting.

He was about to turn around and ask a nearby servant where the actual meeting was being held when he spotted him. At the corner of the table sat the fire lord himself. He was almost easy to miss in the surrounding chaos. Had it not been for the fact that he had seen the fire lord before in meetings, he might have thought he was another one of the teenagers attending what still looked like an unruly school.

The fire lord finally managed to turn himself away from the chaos and towards the newly opened doors. When he saw who was standing at the door he let out a single, pointed cough. All eyes snapped first to him and then to where he was looking. With an almost practiced grace the girls went to what were presumably their assigned chairs as did the boy in blue. The boy from the mantlepiece gathered up all the scattered pastries with an air current before taking his own seat on the left hand side of the fire lord. 

Wait a second… air bending? It couldn’t be.

The fire lord stood up and said “Good morning councillor Rin. Glad you could be here this morning. Let me introduce you to the delegates we have gathered here today. At the far side of the table we have Toph Bei-Fong, the heir to the Bei-Fong family and representative of the earth kingdom for this meeting as appointed by the earth king himself. Next we have Sokka and Katara, warriors from the southern water tribe and delegates for both water tribes. And finally on my left is avatar Aang, I’m sure you are familiar with his accomplishments. Now that we’re all acquainted lets start this meeting.”

Councilman Rin could do little but sit down on the right hand of the fire lord in complete shock. THESE are the warriors that had the fire nation in terror all of last year. They cant possibly be older than 16 each. And the avatar, he looked younger than his daughter, and she had only just entered finishing school. 

As the meeting went on and he slowly came back from his shock he did notice something off. Even though they are kids, none of them act like it. He had seen children in important meetings before, usually children of high ranking nobles learning the ropes. They would always act their age slightly, no matter how well raised and educated they were. 

They would speak out of turn, too quickly, or give opinions where they weren’t warranted or appreciated. It was this very same behaviour that got the fire lord banished in the first place. Children just had too many emotions and not enough social tact, especially teenagers. 

These children? They spoke with a grace and determination that he only expected from seasoned nobles and delegates, even though they could not have been doing this for more than 3 months. 

With their efficiency, the meeting was soon concluded. The factory holders would discuss with local government whether the would have to give up ownership of the factories. The owners of factories that would have to leave their livelihoods behind would be compensated by the fire nation and moved back to the capitol. 

The minute the meeting was finished was like a spell had been broken. Instead of the steadfast world leaders he had discussed global politics with not 5 minutes ago, here were the children he’d accidentally walked in on. In them he could see his own children, still wild and relatively carefree. The sudden change gave him some emotional whiplash and he was stunned into silence.   
As the avatar packed up the papers showing fire nation holdings which they had scrupulously poured over during the meeting, he was also teasing the young water tribe warrior over his apparently new hairstyle. The Bei-Fong heiress then reassured him that it looked great, to which they all laughed. A sort inside joke he assumed. 

As they exited the room while he stayed behind at the table he thought that he could vaguely see the warriors that he had heard frightening rumours about. The ones that tore through whole battalions in seconds during the war. But at that moment, what he truly saw were 5 children, hardened by a war they should not have been a part of, finally having fun.


End file.
